


Employee Morale

by Turbulent_Muse



Series: Magnusquerade stories [5]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Do Not Archive, Gen, Just Tim being angsty, No Dialogue, Swearing, Vampire AU, Vampires, mentions of passive mind control
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-03
Updated: 2019-10-03
Packaged: 2020-11-22 07:43:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20870669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Turbulent_Muse/pseuds/Turbulent_Muse
Summary: Just Tim having a bad time.





	Employee Morale

Tim hated his life.

He hated that his boss was a vampire and he hated that, due to bullshit blood magic, he couldn’t hate Jon for it.

And he _really_ wanted to hate Jon.

Tim had just about come to terms with the fact that he was trapped here, under the control of the same kind of monster that had killed his brother, but he wasn’t going to be happy about it. He was going to remain as angry as he could for as long as he could, if only because he knew that emotion was his own.

He really wished he had someone to be angry with him, though. Melanie was apparently angry enough to try to kill Elias, but that indicated a hope of escape that Tim just didn’t have anymore. Basira just spent her time reading every book in the library and generally seeming unconcerned with her fate. Daisy was…Daisy, and she was rarely around anyway. And then there was Martin. If Tim were a more cruel man he would have started making disparaging remarks about Martin’s personality type, because he actually seemed genuinely happy. At least when Jon was around and not off chasing leads.

It’s not like having someone else angry around would make things any better, but he couldn’t stand feeling like the only one who both understood that he couldn’t escape this situation, and was pissed off about it.

And he knew that there was, truly, no escape. He couldn’t even consider taking the easy way out because he knew that it would upset Jon <strike>he would do anything to keep him happy</strike> and even more so because it’d mean this place, these people, the entire _situation_ had won. And Tim knew that he wasn’t ever going to win but he wouldn't let _this_ win either.

Tim was glad he had enough free will left to be angry. And to let Jon know he was angry. He could curse at Jon and yell at him<strike> how dare he</strike> and let everyone know how unhappy he was at<strike> wanting to needing to</strike> having to do whatever Jon wanted him to.

Even though this made Jon sad. And seeing Jon sad made him feel <strike>sad guilty penitent</strike> _more angry_ because yeah, okay, maybe Jon was just as caught up in this as he was but it was still Jon controlling his mind and Jon was still the reason Tim was here <strike>where he belonged</strike> in the first place. And Tim <strike>should</strike> wouldn’t forgive him for that.

He <strike>craved</strike> hated the exchange of blood between them that had become almost routine. He hated that it…wasn’t bad, being fed on. And he hated his own desire for Jon’s blood, and the <strike>wonderful</strike> terrible feeling of it strengthening in him the bond he <strike>needed</strike> despised. And he hated that Jon was so casual about it now. At first things had been so awkward that Tim had wanted to <strike>plead with</strike> scream at his boss to just get it over with, but now there was barely any remorse in Jon’s eyes, barely any evidence that he might have a problem with this situation too <strike>he shouldn’t</strike>. Jon was moving farther away from humanity as this awful reality became everyone’s new normal and Tim was being dragged along for the ride.

The worst part was having to analyze every thought, every feeling in his head to try to sort out how he actually felt. If he let his guard down he knew he would turn into some happy, obedient servant who cared for nothing but Jon’s wellbeing <strike>as he should</strike>. He wouldn’t let that happen, not ever. But it was a lot of effort, and it left him so tired <strike>stop fighting just give in</strike>. So, yeah, Tim was going to stay angry, because that’s how he knew he was still himself.

And as if that wasn’t enough, his entire struggle was laid bare to Jon’s _Sight_. His <strike>comforting</strike> infuriating presence within Tim’s mind drove him almost as crazy as the fact that he himself often had at least a vague idea of what Jon was thinking and feeling. He didn’t want that shit in his head and wanted the shit that _was_ in his head to be private but _no_ instead he had to deal with knowing his boss could _See_ everything he was feeling. Had to deal with seeing Jon look at him with guilt or worse, pity. He wasn’t even sure what reaction he wanted to see from Jon, he just wanted him _out of his head_. These days the only thing Jon did that didn’t piss him off even more was try to just ignore their entire situation which is what Tim spent most of the time trying to do as well. But no matter what he did, he could still feel their bond.

So yeah, Tim _really_ hated his life.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[podfic] Employee Morale](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21338710) by [olive2pod (olive2read)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/olive2read/pseuds/olive2pod)


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